A State Department office gives young people a voice. Abby Finkenauer leads the effort.

WASHINGTON − Abby Finkenauer stood among Indonesian mangroves last May singing Taylor Swift songs with a group of young women cleaning up trash. All during high tide.

It was another foreign trip for former Iowa congresswoman Finkenauer in her new role as special envoy for the Global Youth Issues Office, an office within the State Department that formed after the 2010 Arab Spring anti-government protests. Its focus: Build relationships with young people around the world.

Finkenauer, 34, traveled to Indonesia for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Women’s Leadership Academy as part of the role President Joe Biden appointed her to this year.

From starting her career in the Iowa state House to serving in federal government, Finkenauer is taking her public service experience globally at a time when more than half the world's population is under 30 years old and the United States looks to address key issues for young people as global tensions rise.

During her trip to Indonesia, there was no hesitation among the women who trekked out waist-deep into the water as part of the service project. With a silent understanding, the women formed an assembly line with each person finding their place gathering trash in the water, pushing it to shore or loading up trash bags.

“These girls are going to save the damn world,” Finkenauer said.

Elected as one of the first women to represent Iowa in Congress, Finkenauer now leads the Global Youth Issues Office and serves as the public representative on issues that matter to young people. It's the first time the position has been elevated to the level of special envoy. Ronan Farrow, an investigative journalist known for his reporting on sexual misconduct allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, led the office as special adviser when it first formed.  

In Indonesia, Finkenauer stepped back and watched the women cleaning the tropical plants submerged in water. It reminded her of a "microcosm of how real change work can actually be done" and the importance of how every piece − and every voice − is needed.

“That’s why I knew, I’m like, ‘OK, we are all in good hands,’” she said. “We just have to make room for these young people to shine, and that’s part of what we fight for in this office.”

What is the Global Youth Issues Office?

The Global Youth Issues Office formed in 2010 under President Barack Obama’s administration after the Arab Spring, a series of pro-democracy protests and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa that challenged authoritarian regimes.

“It really came out of the Arab Spring and realizing that if we are going to do our jobs well, in terms of diplomacy, in terms of reaching people all over the globe and talking about democracy, we'd better be talking to young people,” Finkenauer said.

The office focuses on youth participation in government and civil society, ranging from offering programming globally that encourages young people – often underrepresented – to get involved in public service or run for office while fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.

More than 900,000 young people globally have participated in the office’s exchange programs, including 1 in 3 current world leaders, according to data from the office.

Participants are young people working to make their own communities or countries better places, Finkenauer said, but are often in need of extra training or a support system.

“To really encourage young people to go from caring about the policy to being policymakers themselves − that is the crux of it,” Finkenhauer said.

It’s not only about diplomacy. Finkenauer said the office in part serves as a national security program because of the relationship-building and outreach to young people who come from different backgrounds and are already working to make their country a better place.

“It’s important that our young people here in the United States are also benefiting from these programs,” she said. “When we have these exchange programs, they’re exchanging ideas or learning from each other. Their idea of the world is expanded, and that is better for everyone."

A connection from Iowa to Vietnam

When first approached about serving as the special envoy, Finkenauer was hesitant. She had barely traveled out of the country and didn’t grow up accumulating stamps in a passport.

But it all came full circle on her first foreign trip to Cambodia for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders initiative.

A young man, Hieu Nguyen, approached her with a bag of coffee. The 29-year-old runs his own coffee startup in his home country of Vietnam, where he creates job opportunities for young people with challenging backgrounds.

The saying “it’s a small world” rang true.

Nguyen coincidentally spent several weeks in Finkenauer's hometown in Dubuque County, Iowa, during one of the Global Youth Issues Office’s exchange programs before the two met in Cambodia.

“I knew immediately ... I’m in the right spot,” she said. “After meeting Hieu and seeing that connection, I knew it was the right thing.”

Nguyen’s coffee brand, Black Lotus, employs young people who have endured domestic violence or dropped out of school. He has a special interest in business, specifically how it can be used as a medium for change.

“She’s from America trying to do her own thing in America, and I’m here in Vietnam trying to do my own thing in Vietnam, and for some reason ... (the initiative) was our bridge to be there in Cambodia at the same time, in the same room, thinking about the same things, thinking about how to improve the world, how to give back to community,” he told USA TODAY. “It was really unreal.”

A first for Iowa

Finkenauer says she grew up in a town “with more cows than people.”

Born and raised in rural Sherrill, Iowa, she didn’t know anyone in politics. Her closest connection to public service was her grandfather, a firefighter, who loved to discuss current events.

The discussions inspired Finkenauer to beg her parents for a subscription to Newsweek at 10 years old.

It wasn't until a school field trip where her local congressman was speaking that she picked up a pamphlet with information on the paid page program for the U.S. House of Representatives. She applied and was selected.

The trip from Iowa to Washington, D.C., was her first time on a plane.

Finkenauer's interest in public service and politics only grew from there. She returned to Iowa, where she worked as a page for the Iowa House of Representatives and Biden's 2008 presidential campaign. Then, at 24, she won a race for a state House seat in her hometown that she held for four years until a U.S. House seat became available.

She was 29 when she won the race and was elected to Congress, one of the first women in her 20s to be elected to the House and one of the first women to represent Iowa in the lower chamber. She spent her time in Congress talking about things that resonated with her own voice − such as championing funding to fight endometriosis, a painful disorder in which tissue similar to what typically lines the uterus grows outside the uterus.

“When you share those unique perspectives, those stories that haven’t been said before because a young person like you may have never been in that space before, (it shows) just how much of an impact that can make.”

Her path to public service is one she now shares to connect with young people. She has found that her life experience − growing up in a small town, being the first generation to go to college − serves as a bridge between the Global Youth Issues Office and young people around the world.

“You can see their eyes open in a way of what they even think is possible for their own life,” she said.

What challenges do young people face?

Finkenauer said that for every success story she hears meeting young people around the world, she hears one of a young person afraid for their safety or for being persecuted because they used their voice.

She discovered one common concern from young people all across the world: online harassment ranging from hateful comments to death threats.

Finkenauer said she has asked herself similar questions as a former member of Congress: How much privacy or personal safety should one give up for public service?

“These are questions that young people are dealing with all around the globe right now,” she said.

And it’s a double-edged sword. The office can’t expect young people to run for office if it's not doing the work to keep them safe, Finkenauer said.

“There’s no real good solution that covers the entire globe to deal with this right now, but what we can be doing is creating networks, creating safety programs and ways where they feel like they can rely on their peers but also others.”

What issues do young people care about worldwide?

Top of mind for young people across the globe are issues stemming from climate change to anti-corruption and disinformation, Finkenauer said.

The Global Youth Issues Office works to address these concerns by providing young people with the tools needed to address climate change and educate people to think critically so they can tell the difference between what's true and what's not.

Young people are also frustrated with the way government systems work, Finkenauer said, emphasizing how young people will play a crucial role in determining the outcome of emerging democracies.

“As we talk about these regions or these countries where things could go one way or the other it is really, really important to note just how much we can never take it (democracy) for granted.”

Finkenauer reflected on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which came just three days after she finished her term in the House.

“When it’s come up, mostly how it's been seen by young people around the globe is as this moment of: ‘Oh wow, even the United States. Wow, they too can’t take it for granted, and if they can’t take it for granted, we can’t take it for granted.’”

But despite the challenges, Finkenauer remains hopeful about the future of democracy.

“There’s something about this work in particular of getting to meet these young people, of knowing now the work that is being done where I just know the best is yet to come all over the globe ... if we create more spaces for young people to not just be heard, but also to be able to do actionable things.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abby Finkenauer is in her Global Youth Era. She's taking it seriously.